Aston Martin: Why they are in trouble before the start of the 2026 season

The past few years have not been easy for Aston Martin. A big step forward At the start of 2023, when Alonso first joined the team, he drove to the podium six times in the first eight races and what could have been a win in Monaco, only to lose out due to a wrong tire choice during late rain.

But in the second half of that season, the team declined, as they failed to maintain the rate of development of their rivals. The same happened in 2024, from a lower starting point, and in 2025 they were simply uncompetitive, falling to seventh in the championship from fifth in the previous two years.

Newey’s arrival was supposed to herald the beginning of a transformation, especially as he has historically succeeded in bringing about changes in regulations and produced design philosophies that competitors have followed – in 1998 with McLaren, and again in 2009 and 2022 with Red Bull.

The biggest regulation change in Formula 1 history for 2026 gives him the opportunity to do it again, this time with Aston Martin.

But the first production car under his leadership fell well short of expectations, and a quick look at the context makes this less surprising than it appears on the surface.

In Formula 1, success comes from stability, and that’s the latest thing Aston Martin has achieved in the past few years. There has been a major change in leadership, and at the top as well.

This has included two new appointments, such as technical director Enrico Cardele, who finally arrived in July after a year on gardening leave from Ferrari.

But also victims. The latest was Andy Coyle, the architect of Mercedes’ success in the hybrid era. He was only appointed CEO in October 2024, but just over a year later, after a dispute with Niue, he was demoted to a different role.

Cowell now spends most of his time in Japan, trying to help Honda solve its problems.

Aston Martin had already played down expectations when its official team was launched in early February, stressing that the project would need time to become a success.

Newey explained that their start in March left them a few months behind other teams in terms of development.

The new aerodynamic regulations for 2026 were finally officially published on 2 January 2025, two months before Newey officially began work at Aston Martin.

In fact, teams have been working on the 2026 cars for much longer than that. The basics of the car layouts in the rules had been known for some time, and all the teams were in working groups refining the details with the FIA’s governing body, so they knew where they were going.

The good news is that when Newey arrived in March 2026, he actually ordered the car redesigned based on his ideas. So the current car is at least several months behind all its competitors in terms of development. With this kind of inability, even he couldn’t perform miracles.

Newey described the Aston Martin as “one of the most extreme interpretations” of this year’s new rules.

Right now, in its undeveloped form, there’s no doubt that it’s uncompetitive – it’s slow and unpredictable. It may turn out that it could be developed into a good car, but until Honda can handle it itself, it will be difficult to know.